#yizhi

[pancakepoet]

[winter-wise]

Zetian: I think I may have found a new treatment for the flower pox. It's made from a very rare herb called ligma. Qin Zheng: Ligma? Zetian: Yizhi, get in here, I told you I could do it!

[notjustyoursunshineboy]

PUT THAT TWINK IN DRAG

[alystar00]

Zetian: Remember when you told me to write letters to all people who had ever hurt me and then burn them?

Yizhi: Yeah.

Zetian: I did that, but what do I do with the letters?

[kajaono]

Yizhi screaming: „you are not allowed to shot me, I am rich!“ and no one shots him, is the most hilarious line of the whole book

[ahb-writes]

Book Review: 'Iron Widow'

Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao

action

Asian sci-fi

gender studies

giant robot

rebellion

revenge

sci-fi

social commentary

superhero

My Rating: 4 of 5 stars

The unearned demands of the noble class breed a very particular, very familiar stench of greed. Surviving preferential dicta for race, ethnicity, and gender, one encounters a sociopolitical infrastructure whose foundational phobias sting the eyes into blinking. The bigotry, the intolerance, and the chauvinism are ubiquitous, and as such, sweeping efforts of immense chaos are necessary to shake the firmament. IRON WIDOW affirms what is occasionally, truthfully, philosophized: Abrupt revolution is necessary when gradual progress is rendered functionally impossible.

Such are the woeful accuracies framing the corrupt polity of the land of Huaxia, its many provinces, and the army under whose auspices each citizen pays tribute. Forced conscription, unyielding tax burdens, a world under siege from biomechanical alien entities. The glaringly forthright and uncompromisingly distorted culture of violence, scarcity, and sexism of Huaxia gives readers a clear window into the novel's trajectory: Everything is terrible, and one young woman, Wu Zetian, pledges to fight for a new paradigm until it kills her.

Lady Wu, by fashionable accounts, is a mad woman. But readers know better. Readers know she enlists to serve as a concubine, a position of fealty and support during military operations, only to exact revenge upon a pompous fool. Readers know she acquiesces to train with a convicted murderer, only to further her ambitions to end the war on her own terms. Readers know she signs a contract with a sleezy media magnate, with her own blood, only because the manufactured splendor of public adoration is the only mirror that outshines the stratified grandeur of the national army. Many people view Wu Zetian as a bit mad, sure, but everyone in her life has failed her, abused her, or misused her. Zetian cannot unmake the trauma others have wrought, but she can definitely become a nightmare all her own, and terrorize in kind those who deserve it.

IRON WIDOW offers contemporary readers the type of noisy, foul-mouthed, vengeance-seeking young female lead character so many fantasy fiction titles lack. The type of hard-luck woman so many books mimic in earnest but ultimately blink when the blade is swung, when the trigger is pulled, or in the case of IRON WIDOW, when the 40m tall mech transforms and starts ripping people's limbs off. Zetian never knew a good person in her whole life, so why would she ever desire to become one herself?

The novel's setting is a futuristic Asian fantasy realm complete with giant robots, ravaging otherworldly beasts, hover-vehicles, holographic displays, fantastical god-beings, powerful physical manifestations of qì, and sprawling military-industrial complexes. The author clearly loves the mash-up, as readers will find multiple references to ancient Chinese literature and lore alongside sci-fi exploits like transforming mecha that typify the zodiac. The kitsch may not be worth admiring, if the reader isn't in tune with either, but it's plenty enough for those whose interests rightfully intersect.

The best thing about this book is how thoroughly committed the author, and by extension, the protagonist is to seeing this story through to the end. Zetian, for example, isn't bitter and pessimistic about death because she has no options, she's merely giving as much violence as she takes ("Too bad. I am exactly the kind of ice-blooded, rotten-hearted girl he fears I am. And I am fine with that. May he stay unsettled," page 114). Some characters match Zetian's grit; others push back. Another female mech pilot, Dugu Qieluo, for example, is aggressively unlikable. Lady Dugu doesn't hesitate to throw a punch (at a supposed ally) and defends her personhood with vigor ("Never appease. No one's ever been respected for appeasing. The only thing you did was let them know there are no consequences to treating you like trash," page 295).

Fighting massive bug creatures in the wilds beyond the Great Wall occupy the official duties of these and other characters. But piloting giant robots to save humanity feels comically miniscule in importance when juxtaposed with the gravity of avoiding sexual assault, navigating corrupt officials, sniffing out traitors, and spitting in the eye of any supposed fate.

For example, Zetian allies with a wealthy young man, Yizhi, a possible paramour from her days as an impoverished girl in the mountains. Yizhi is a sympathetic man with a gift for big words. His kindness and his wealth seem limitless. But, "How far does the darkness in him go?" (page 183), she asks, knowing full well the corruption that girds her country doubtlessly lines the young man's pockets as well. A soft rich boy doesn't survive as one of dozens of sons what for being only a soft rich boy. He may be an animal, but evidently, Yizhi hides his teeth. A durable contrast to Li Shimin, a 19-year-old man convicted of patricide. Shimin is Zetian's co-pilot, and fittingly, the man is all rough edges, beset with the tired eyes and ruined liver of an alcoholic. Shimin doesn't hide his teeth, and his protective alliance with Zetian, a pledge to bark, tear, and destroy anything in their path, wavers on the border between keenly obligatory and affectionately benevolent. It's a love triangle appropriate for a novel layered with dead bodies.

IRON WIDOW is a thrill. It's difficult to find a fantasy book with female lead characters whose uncompromising disregard for state discrimination and fervent rebuke of institutionalized sexual violence manifest so clearly and cleanly. The first half of the book doesn't waver. Vengeance is on the table from the very first chapter. The action is pointed and the character dynamics are definitive. The violence only recedes when, in the second half of the novel, the story shifts into a rather strategic atmosphere, as Zetian maneuvers her successes and failures into greater grabs for political power.

Nevertheless, the book commits to characters-with-issues and unbuckles their ambitions with glee. It's a riotous adventure whose characters always know the stakes, and whose characters are just smart enough to know the pain of giving in to the greed of others is often greater than the suffering required survive on one's own terms. Buttressing these themes, compelling B-stories fill in the gaps, involving filial piety, bisexuality, the myth of popular karma, the quest to rid the world of entitled pricks, and the sad, disquieting inevitability of death ("Dread hollows through me. We spend so much effort living these lives, yet every trace of their substance and meaning can be erased so quickly. So easily," page 338).

❯ ❯ Book Reviews || ahb writes on Good Reads

[axolone]

Gao YiZhi in Heavenly Tyrant by @xiranjayzhao!

He was my surprise favorite in this book, I loved so many of his scenes, especially the hair cutting one.

[untitled-kiwi]

someone mentioned Yizhi from Iron Widow wearing HIM’s outfit so naturally I had to draw it

[incorrect-ironwidow]

Taiping: Fuck, marry, kill- Renjie, Shimin and Yizhi.

Zetian: Marry Shimin, fuck Yizhi, and kill Qin Zheng.

Qin Zheng: I wasn’t even one of the options, what the fuck?

[no-1-rosalind-lang-apologist]

[pancakepoet]

Wu Zetian: "you say you hate private property, but you're treating me like private property??? 😒🤔👀"

Qin Zheng: "erm akchually it's personal property 🤓☝🏻"

[winter-wise]

Yizhi: Did you say spider? Zetian, I brought a paper towel.

Shimin: Yizhi, are you making Zetian kill a bug for you again?

Yizhi: I'm not making her. We just have our roles. I bring a paper towel... and Zetian does everything else.

Zetian: He doesn't like to get his hands dirty. Like a mob boss.

[iwouldliketoeatrandy]

Inspired by this post, I wanted to fancast Iron Widow! I really liked these picks, especially Nini who would do a great job as Wu Zetian, but didn't want to just copy and paste.

Li Meng as Wu Zetian

She was a wonderfully cruel and charismatic villain in The Double and I would love to see her rage and passion in Wu Zetian's character.

Yu Shi as Li Shimin

Ok listen I think he's handsome, but also he could do it.

Tan Jian Ci as Gao Yizhi

For our wealthy scholar. His 2023 and 2024 characters were polar opposites characterization wise, and I'd love to see him continue to challenge himself with a unique character like Yizhi.

[alystar00]

Sima Yi: Why are you three holding hands?

Yizhi: Studies show that holding hands can reduce stress.

Sima Yi: Oh, I thought you three were dating or something.

Zetian: We are.

Shimin: We’re also just really fucking stressed

[kradnie]

iron triangle iron triangle iron triangle iron triangle

modern au bc they deserve it

[queer-book-character-tournament]

Character, book, and author names under the cut

Catalina “Cat” Alvarez/Laila Dermott- The Sunshine Court by Nora Sakavic 

Kodiak Celius/Ambrose Cusk- The Darkness Outside Us by Eliot Schrefer

Jean/Muirin- A Sweet Sting of Salt by Rose Sutherland

Wu Zetian/Li Shimin/Gao Yizhi- Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao